The Fuck?!?!

Kate walked up with a passion, pressing her finger into Cait’s chest. “The fuck!?!”

Cait stammered, clearly flustered at the sudden aggression. Boyfriend mode kicked in gear and I pulled Cait back a bit, holding her shoulders.

“Can we cool it with the aggression towards my girlfriend, please?”

Kate looked at me with wide eyes. “Your…?” Fury flashed over her face, and she let out a single loud laugh. “You fucking moron.”

The other girls caught up, Kenzie putting a hand on her lover’s shoulder. “Kate, come on-“

“Shut the fuck up, Kenzie.” Kate cut her off, swiping her hand away, “I told this bitch to stay away.”

“I’m- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“ Cait stammered, tears welling in her eyes.

“Oh, no; don’t even try that bullshit. You wanted to fuck with me, right? You… you knew Michael moved in, didn’t you? What, you thought that would be a way back in? You-“

I cut in between the two. “Okay, okay, please stop; what the hell is going on?”

“There’s no way you’re that stupid, right? I mean, have you fucking looked at her?” Kate sneered at me.

I looked at Kate. Then I looked at Cait.

“Huh.” Okay, I saw it now.

“I knew she looked like Kate!” Hana said, clearly proud she’d noticed. Ava shushed her promptly.

“Okay, I really don’t know how I’d missed that.” I admitted. “So, what? You’re sisters? Cousins?”

“Twins, fucker. And she is supposed to stay the fuck away from me and my friends!” Kate replied with venom dripping over any reference to Cait.

“Kate, I swear I had no idea! I… I didn’t know!” Cait peeked from behind me, tears streaming down her face. “I’ll go, okay?”

She slinked away from behind me, quickly running out the exit.

“Cait! What?!” I reached out to grab her, but it was too late. Before I could even finish grasping out, she was long gone. I looked at everyone else before following after her.

When I got outside, I didn’t see a redhead in sight. Lots of punk-types bumping into me to enter the bar, completely unaware that my night had been ruined. How inconsiderate of them.

I pulled my phone out and tried to call Cait. No answer. Another call. No answer.

I sent a few texts asking where she went, what’s wrong, etc…. Nothing.

Defeated, I went back into the building. The girls were talking, but shut up when I got close.

“I really don’t want to overstep here… but what the fuck, Kate?!” I had attempted to address the situation calmly, but spending ten minutes trying to contact my girlfriend had apparently driven me closer to the edge of my patience than I’d realized.

Kate had clearly calmed down some, and seemed embarrassed to have made such an outburst. “Michael, please don’t be mad. I didn’t aim to ruin you getting a girlfriend or whatever, but I… it’s better that she’s gone. I’d suggest you never contact her again.”

“What?!” I gave her a baffled expression. I looked at the other girls for some backup, but they all just avoided my eyes.

“She’s… bad. She’s a bad person, it’s that simple. I… I think she just used you to try and get to me, Michael-“

“Fuck you.” I cut her off.

Kenzie jumped in. “Hey, man, there’s no need to-“

“No, fuck off.” I interrupted again. “This is bullshit! What, you think nothing good can come from myself? You think the only chance I could ever find someone is, what? Some grand-fucking-conspiracy to get at you? Are you that self absorbed?”

I was getting angry. My eye was twitching. I was happy the room was pretty dark, because I think rage-tears began to build in my eyes.

“Michael, no one is saying anything like that….” Sara said, her voice sounding nervous to even speak to me while I was in this mood.

Kate nodded. “I didn’t mean to upset you, really! Caitlin is just a bad person, it’s that simple. She’s manipulative, she’s greedy, and she’s a liar.”

“What?! She’s an absolute sweetheart! Did you not see how she reacted when you started fucking berating her? She was scared!” I threw my hands up in exasperation.

Hana moved to stand closer to me, I suppose in a symbolic gesture. “I’m sorry to be butting into something that’s clearly roommate-drama, but I’m just saying this as someone from the outside looking in: to be fair, you did start being rude the moment you saw her.”

Kate sighed. “Hana, I’m sorry; but you just have no idea what you’re talking about. None of you do besides Kenzie. You know me, right? You know I wouldn’t act like that without a reason! I can’t even complain when a restaurant fucks up my order!”

Kenzie nodded. “It’s true. The restaurant part and the sister part.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to side with my girlfriend here. You keep smearing her name, but you haven’t given me a single descriptor that describes the woman I know. She’s been nothing but sweet to me. There’s no way she could have targeted me; we met completely at random. You’re fucking paranoid, Kate.” I knew I was being rude, but she had already been rude to Cait so it was fair game, right?

What pissed me off the most was Kate didn’t seem angry at my cruelty… she seemed sad for me. Like I didn’t know. Like I was in the wrong.

I couldn’t stand that look. “I’m leaving.”

I walked out the bar. I didn’t look back to see if anyone followed.

Apparently someone had, though.

“I’m your ride, asshole.” Hana attempted to crack a joke, elbowing my ribs softly.

-

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